


The Relic Hunters

by Anthemyst



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Gabe and Mama as tomb raiders basically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-22
Updated: 2018-01-28
Packaged: 2019-03-08 05:41:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13451706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anthemyst/pseuds/Anthemyst
Summary: A series of prompts focused around the Agrestes as adventurers in their youth.





	1. IV

Gabriel Agreste’s footsteps echoed softly throughout the empty ruins as he entered, and he winced involuntarily at the noise. Behind him, his partner in crime laughed softly. “I told you to wear sneakers for this,” Gisele whispered. “I remember when you actually used to dress sensibly for these excursions.”

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “I suppose there’s some eminently practical function to that fedora you never take off.”

Gisele grinned and pulled the brim of her hat a little bit further down over her eyes. “This is different, this isn’t going to get us caught and arrested for disturbing a World Heritage site.”

“The ruins are deserted at this hour,” Gabriel said. “No one will hear my steps.” He calmly reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out an old, weathered compass. The needle spun around aimlessly at first, but as Gabriel cleared his mind and focused on their goal it settled down, pointing ahead of them and slightly to the left. “This way.”

The couple made their way through the ruins, the light of the full moon making their path an easy thing. About twenty meters in, however, Gabriel hesitated. “What’s wrong?” Gisele asked.

“Nothing.” Gabriel continued walking.

Curious, Gisele peered around Gabriel as they went, at the compass he was following, and without warning put a hand on his arm. “Ha!” she whispered triumphantly, as the needle immediately swung around and pointed straight at her. “You’re distracted. Let me do it.”

“You’re distracting me,” Gabriel replied.

“Oh, don’t be mad, I think it’s cute,” Gisele said as she plucked the compass from Gabriel’s grasp. “After we’ve been together for how many years? Most men would get bored.”

“Most men are fools, then.”

A faint blush appeared on Gisele’s cheeks, barely visible in the pale moonlight, but the needle stayed steady. “Come on.”

The compass led them to one of the ruins’ more intact pillars, in the middle of what had once been a courtyard. Gisele circled the pillar experimentally, careful to make sure the needle didn’t once waver from it. “It’s here,” she said, upon reaching her starting point. “Somewhere, anyway.”

Frowning, Gabriel circled the pillar himself, walking slowly around it as he looked up and down its length. “There,” he said, pointing up. “That symbol, it matches the one in the scroll.” Gabriel took his phone out of his pocket and pulled up a snapshot of the scroll they’d managed to get their hands on two weeks earlier. “See?”

Gisele nodded, then stared at the spot on the pillar for a minute. “I’m going to have to stand on your shoulders to reach that.”

“Hardly the first time,” Gabriel said. He laced his fingers together and offered Gisele a boost. Gisele placed a foot in his cradled hands, pulled herself up, and in no time was standing on his shoulders, leaning her weight against the pillar, Gabriel’s hands around each ankle for extra support.

“Can you reach it?” Gabriel asked, his voice strained.

“Just about,” Gisele said. “You okay?”

“Fine,” Gabriel said, “although I must confess this was easier a decade ago.”

Gisele began entering the code from the scroll. “I’ve gained weight.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, you haven’t gained a kilogram since I met you.”

Gisele hummed to herself. “Well, maybe, but that’s about to change. Actually, I’ll be gaining quite a lot of weight over the next, oh, eight and a half months or so.”

Gabriel took a second, and then Gisele’s meaning sunk in. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

“Do you think I’m saying ‘Congratulations, Dad’?” Gisele asked. “Do hold still Gabriel, you just made me press the wrong symbol. Now I have to start again from the beginning.”

Gabriel made an effort to steady himself, although he was starting to feel short of breath. “Are you insane?”

“ _Excuse_ me?” Gisele asked icily. “I might reconsider my response if I were you.”

“What I mean is, is it safe?”

“What, pregnancy?” Gabriel heard the sound of stone scraping against stone as the secret compartment finally opened. “Well, it’s safer now than it was when this place was built.”

“No, _this_. Climbing all over crumbling ruins in the middle of the night. You’re going to break your neck.”

“And you were fine with me breaking my neck when I wasn’t pregnant, were you?” Gisele asked, her voice strained and distracted. She went up on her toes, and Gabriel’s heart caught in his throat. “Got it! Alright, I’m coming down, hold still.” Gisele’s descent was significantly more awkward than her climb up, but it was still only about a minute before she was back down, both feet safely on solid ground. She looked up at Gabriel and gently put a hand to his arm. “I know this timing isn’t ideal,” she said softly, “but I’m really going to need you to come up with something resembling a happy reaction in the next ten seconds, okay?”

Gabriel exhaled slowly, then leaned forward and kissed his wife’s forehead. “I love you,” he murmured.

“I know. This is a good thing, I promise.”

Gabriel looked around, at the ruins surrounding them. “We can’t keep doing this.”

“Why not?” Gisele asked. “I’ve got at least a few good months left, and we have at least half a dozen more sites to check.”

“We should fly back to Paris at once,” Gabriel insisted.

“Or,” Gisele said, “we finish our trip and pick up one or two more artifacts. Artifacts like this one.” Gisele held up the glass bottle she’d retrieved and uncorked it. There was a small cloud of dust as she did so, but otherwise nothing happened. After a few seconds, Gisele sighed and peered inside it. “Looks like someone got to this djinn long before we got here,” she said, pouting. She looked back up at Gabriel. “Well, that settles it, now we _have_ to keep going.”

“We don’t need a djinn, we need to go home, to where it’s safe.”

“Are you sure?” Gisele raised an eyebrow. “I would think you’d want to get your hands on one of these now more than ever. Having a few wishes in the bank will certainly make _me_ feel less apprehensive about all this.”

Gabriel sighed. “Things are going to have to change, Gisele, surely you realize that.”

Gisele smiled. “Things have already changed quite a bit since we started doing this,” she pointed out, “and mostly for the better. This will be, too.”

After a moment, Gabriel shoved all his doubts aside. “Of course it will be,” he agreed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally written for Gabriel Appreciation Week, Day One: Father's Day.


	2. III

“Ha!” Gisele exclaimed triumphantly, as she and Gabriel made their way back through the main chamber towards the temple’s entrance. “That was so easy!” She threw a baseball-sized ruby up into the air and caught it easily.

“Do be careful with that, Miss Belloq,” Gabriel said, annoyed.

“Oh, come on, have a little fun. I’ve never pulled off a switch that seamlessly before, can you blame me for being in a good mood?” Gisele pocketed the ruby and cut ahead of Gabriel as they began to cross the tiled floor. “I have to admit, I had my doubts when we partnered up a year ago, but you make things run much smoother.”

“Yes, shockingly putting a modicum of forethought into one’s actions produces tangible results,” Gabriel replied stiffly, keeping his eyes fixed on the floor tiles. He heard Gisele’s soft laughter ahead of him, and for a brief moment it took all his self-control not to look up at her. “I suppose your presence has not been entirely worthless,” he added.

“Why, Gabriel!” Gisele exclaimed. “That might just be the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.” She sighed dreamily for emphasis.

“There’s no call to be sarcastic.”

“What on Earth did I do to deserve such a charming partner?”

Gabriel bit back a retort and continued to make his way across the tiles, taking his steps in a carefully memorized pattern. He knew from experience that Gisele wasn’t actually angry, and that when she was in the mood to tease him there was nothing to do but wait for her to get bored with it.

“So, Casanova,” Gisele continued, “have you decided how we’re splitting this thing up? We can’t exactly cut it down the middle.”

“I’m perfectly happy to sell it and divide the proceeds accordingly,” Gabriel replied. “As impressive as it is, that stone has no real magical properties.”

“True.” Gisele held the stone up again, and it cast a red shadow upon her face. “Still, it would be an impressive addition to my family’s collection. I’m not sure it would go over well with them, if they found out I sold off the Heart of Mandalay. Obtaining it has been on our to-do list for decades. It might make for an awkward Christmas.”

“You’re welcome to buy my half off of me. Three point five million francs should suffice.”

Gisele’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “That’s very modest,” she said. “Do I finally warrant the Gabriel Agreste Friends and Family Discount?”

“I simply want to keep things nice and cordial,” Gabriel said. “This partnership seems to be working. I have no interest in testing its limits. Are we agreed?”

“Sorry,” Gisele said. “It’s a generous offer, but I don’t have that kind of money yet, and my family doesn’t exactly believe in paying for relics like this. It’s something of a point of pride, I’m afraid.”

“Not even from partners?” Gabriel asked.

“They don’t exactly believe in partners, either,” Gisele replied. “Not ones outside the family, anyway. My mother keeps asking me why I haven’t just stolen the compass and abandoned you already.”

This was news to Gabriel. “Really? Why haven’t you, then?”

“Oh, who knows,” Gisele said breezily. “Must be your winning personality, I guess.” She paused in thought for a moment. “Let me have the ruby,” Gisele finally said, “and you can pick the next target and keep it entirely for yourself. How does that sound?”

Gabriel considered this. “Any target?”

“Within reason.”

“I suppose that’s acceptable.”

Gisele grinned, relieved. “Good,” she said, “because the three hour hike through the rainforest back to civilization would have been very awkward if-”

It didn’t take much, that was the thing that was so easy to forget if you’d been doing this as long as Gisele had. One missed tripwire, one unseen trigger, one step to the left instead of the right, and that was it. But traversing a hallway of pressure-activated floor tiles was second nature to Gisele at this point, and so the possibility of a misstep had ceased to be a real danger in her mind.

Forward, forward, left. Forward, forward, right. Forward, forward, left.

Forward, forward, left.

The floor was there, and then it wasn’t.

Gisele didn’t even have time to realize what was happening. There was a split second of weightlessness, the slightest of drops, and then she was being yanked backwards suddenly, Gabriel Agreste’s arms wrapped tightly about her waist. They stood like that for a while, at the edge of the drop, staring at the vicious spikes about five meters down. “Thanks,” Gisele whispered, snapping Gabriel out of his shock.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” he demanded, finally letting go of her.

Gisele was still staring down at the bottom of the pit. “I must have gotten distracted,” she murmured. “That’s new.”

“You can’t be so careless. You almost _died_.” Gisele finally looked up at Gabriel. She’d never seen such raw emotion on his face before, not in the entire year they’d worked together. He was livid. He was terrified.

“I don’t see what you’re so upset about,” she replied. She was taking great effort to keep her voice breezy, but there was still an unmistakable quaver. “You’d get to keep the ruby after all if I’d fallen down that.”

“That’s not funny,” Gabriel snapped.

“Who’s joking?” Gisele asked, now angry herself. “Let’s not pretend, shall we? You’ve been looking for an excuse to end our arrangement for weeks, so why don’t you just-”

Gabriel grabbed Gisele and kissed her before she could finish her sentence. He was a broken dam, all his composure and clinicality swept away as he grasped her forearms and clung to her as though he were drowning. He pulled away a few seconds later, as suddenly as he’d kissed her. “My apologies,” he said, as formally as he could manage while breathing heavily. “That won’t happen again.”

Gisele blinked, then looked up at Gabriel, head tilted. “Why not?” she asked. Gabriel’s brow furrowed in confusion, until Gisele reached up. Pressing her palm to his cheek, Gisele pulled him back in with the softest of touches for a kiss of her own. Gabriel’s arms wrapped around her waist yet again, and Gisele knew nothing for the rest of her life would ever make her feel so safe. “What happened to keeping things professional?” Gisele whispered, grinning.

“Oh,” Gabriel kissed his way down to Gisele’s neck, “I’m far too gone for that.”

“Is that so?” Gisele said. “You know I would have thrown myself into a booby trap months ago, if I’d known near-death scenarios bring out your romantic side.”

“I almost wish you had.”

“Really?” Gisele cocked an eyebrow. “What if you hadn’t been as lucky as you were today?”

“Luck had nothing to do with it,” Gabriel insisted. “As long as I’m by your side, no harm will come to you. I would do anything to keep you safe.”

“Anything?” Gisele grinned, her smile the sun incarnate. “Careful, I might take you up on that one day.” She went up on her toes and kissed Gabriel’s cheek. “My hero,” she murmured happily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel Appreciation Week, Day 2: Hero/Villain


	3. VI

The longer Gabriel Agreste worked, the more things in the real world fell away from him. One by one, distractions ceased to exist, until there was only pencil and paper and his mind’s eye. Hunger, thirst, fatigue, all were meaningless.

A movement at the edge of Gabriel’s vision caught his attention. He looked up to see his wife standing in the doorway of his office, leaning against the frame and studying him with a thoughtful expression. He blinked, surprised, then looked at the window. “When did it get dark?”

“A few hours ago,” Gisele said, amused.

“Ah.” Gabriel looked back at his wife. “And how long have you been standing there, waiting for me to notice you?”

“Not quite that long,” she replied, smiling.

“I apologize.”

“Don’t. I’ve always loved watching you work. You look so peaceful when you really get into it.” Gisele walked around Gabriel’s desk and came up behind him. She leaned over his shoulder, draping her arms around him, and looked at his sketches. “These are exquisite,” she said, kissing his temple.

Sighing, Gabriel leaned back into her. “They’d be far more exquisite with you modeling them,” he told her.

Gisele laughed. “Yes, I’m sure I’d fit right in backstage, with all those twenty year old girls who usually model your designs. I’m old enough to be their mother.”

Gabriel took Gisele’s hand in his, brushing the pad of his thumb over the back of it in little circles before lifting it up and kissing it. “It would do them good to have you around. You could teach them a thing or two.”

“About what?”

“Perfection.”

Gisele kissed him again. “Twenty-three years, and you can still make me blush.”

“That’s not a ‘yes’.”

Gisele shook her head. “It’s your world, not mine.” She paused for a moment. “Speaking of my world.”

Gabriel finally turned to look up at her, surprised. “What about it?”

Gisele hesitated, then pulled away to sit on the edge of Gabriel’s desk. “Do you miss it?” she asked.

Gabriel considered the question. “No,” he said slowly, “I don’t think I do.”

“Not even a little?”

Gabriel shrugged. “I have everything I’ve ever wanted,” he said, “and enough money to handle anything that threatens that. And what money can’t fix, the Miraculouses surely can. There are no treasures left hidden in the world that could possibly match what I already possess.”

Gisele blushed again. “Oh, there’s nothing I _want_ ,” she said. “You’re right, we have everything. I just miss the hunt sometimes, that’s all. Don’t you?”

“No,” Gabriel said. “It was just a means to an end at first, and then it was a way to be with you. Now I have that end, and I have you.” He frowned. “Why do you ask?”

“I got a call earlier,” Gisele said. “My cousin.”

“Really?” Gabriel asked. “Your family hasn’t reached out for that sort of thing since Adrien was born.”

“I think I was a bit far down her list, honestly,” Gisele said. “But she’s gotten a lead, and wants backup. She’s heard rumors of an alchemist’s journal, near Delphi.” Gisele bit her lip. “I told her I doubted it would work for us, but now I can’t stop thinking about it.”

“I see.” Gabriel looked back at the sketches in front of him. “Perhaps in four or five months, I could move things around, find a few days to-”

“No,” Gisele shook her head. “It’s a very time-sensitive lead. We’d have to go within the next day or two. Impossible, right?”

Gabriel nodded. “Fashion Week is in less than a month,” he said. “I can barely spare a few minutes, never mind days, until it’s over.”

“That’s what I thought,” Gisele said. “Oh, well. It’s fine, I’m sure my cousin can find somebody else.” Gisele hopped off Gabriel’s desk and started for the door. “Don’t stay up too late, darling, you don’t want to burn out before you’ve even-”

“You should go,” Gabriel said impulsively. Gisele froze for a moment, then turned around, shocked. “To Delphi, with your cousin. Without me, that is,” Gabriel added.

For a moment, Gisele was speechless. “I haven’t gone on an expedition without you since I was twenty,” she said.

“I know,” Gabriel replied, “but it would make you happy to go all the same, wouldn’t it? And perhaps in a few months, we can find some other target to go chasing after for a few days as well.”

“Well…” Gisele looked uncertain, but her eyes were starting to light up. “Are you sure you and Adrien would be alright without me? I’m not sure how long I’d be gone.”

“I think we can manage on our own for a week or so,” Gabriel replied easily. “You’ll be back well before Fashion Week?”

Gisele nodded eagerly, and then a wide grin broke out across her face. “Thank you,” she said.

“Of course,” Gabriel said. “I will miss you, though.”

Gisele laughed. “With all your work, love, I’m sure I’ll be back before you’ve even realized I’m gone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel Appreciation Week, Day 3: Fashion Week


	4. I

There was something downright meditative about traversing a labyrinth. It focused the mind. The series of turns one took was hypnotic. This one in particular was quite nice, with its heavy stone walls, which blocked all but the nearest sounds and kept the air nice and cool. Despite the length of his journey through the maze, by the time Gabriel was finally nearing the center he was almost at something resembling peace.

Gabriel turned the final corner, and was immediately met with a fist to the face.

It took him a moment to realize he’d been knocked completely off his feet. There was shock, then confusion, then pain, and then a pair of flashing green eyes glaring down at him from under the wide brim of a fedora.

“Who the hell are you?” the young woman who’d hit him demanded. “Why are you following me? What do you want?”

Gabriel started to get up, and the woman immediately grabbed a can of pepper spray out of her bag and shoved it in Gabriel’s face. He froze. “My name is Gabriel Agreste,” he said slowly, “and it was not my intention to follow you. As for what I want, I imagine it’s the same thing you want.”

“ _La Brújula del Corazón_?” Gabriel nodded, and the woman smirked. “Well, too bad, I got to it first.” She pulled the compass out of her jacket pocket and shook it tauntingly.

“For now,” Gabriel replied.

“Listen, mister, you even breathe funny and you won’t be able to see for a week, got it?” The woman re-pocketed the compass, but kept the pepper spray trained on Gabriel as she looked him up and down. “Anyway, even without this I bet I could take you.”

“Perhaps,” Gabriel allowed. “However, I don’t need to ‘take you’. You are going to give me that device of your own free will.”

The woman laughed. “Why the hell would I do that?”

“Because you’ll never make it out of this labyrinth if you don’t.”

“This is not my first labyrinth,” the woman told him. “I marked my path with string. Following it back out will be easy.”

In response, Gabriel pushed aside the flap of his messenger bag. The woman looked inside it, and her eyes widened. “You mean this string?” Gabriel asked, nodding at the wound-up ball of string inside.

The woman glared at him again, then snatched his bag away with her free hand. “I’ll just take your map, then,” she said.

“I didn’t bring a map.”

The woman’s jaw dropped. “Are you insane? Now we’re both going to starve to death in here. What is wrong with you?”

“I am perfectly capable of finding my way out,” Gabriel said calmly. “I memorized the maze.”

The woman raised an eyebrow skeptically. “There are over five hundred turns in the path from the entrance to the center,” she said, “and if you get a single one wrong you’ll be lost forever.”

“I didn’t memorize the _path_ , I memorized the _maze_ ,” Gabriel corrected. “If I make a wrong turn, I will be fully capable of self-correction. Incidentally,” he added, as the woman’s jaw dropped, “the shortest path from the entrance to this point, which you very much did _not_ take, has only three hundred and eighty-seven turns. Your path was almost a full kilometer longer than optimal.”

The woman stared down at him for a moment, then groaned in frustration. “Here,” she said, tossing his bag back to him and putting her pepper spray away. “Do what you like, I’m figuring a way out of this place on my own.”

“In that case,” Gabriel said, getting to his feet as she stormed off, “I think I’ll tag along. I’d like to be nearby when you finally give up and decide to trade me the compass in exchange for the way out.” He followed after her, easily catching up with his long legs. “Could I get a name?” he asked, and the woman rolled her eyes. “Since you’ve got mine, that is.”

“Gisele Belloq,” she said. “And that’s _all_ you’re getting from me.”

 

* * *

 

“I wouldn’t,” Gabriel said calmly, about an hour and a half later, as Gisele started to turn right at one of the labyrinth’s intersections.

Gisele looked back at him, her face stuck a permanent glare at this point. “Why not?”

“The path splits in three directions about fifty meters down, each one of which ultimately leads to a dead end, but not before a considerable number of pointless turns. You’ll waste at least twenty minutes.”

“What do you care?” Gisele asked, turning back around and taking the path to the right. “You’re just waiting for me to get frustrated and give up.” Gabriel followed silently, and Gisele stopped when they reached the intersection Gabriel had just described. “Alright,” she said begrudgingly, “I guess you did a pretty good job memorizing this place after all.”

“Ready to surrender the compass?” Gabriel asked.

“Hardly,” Gisele scoffed. “Anyway, if this doesn’t work I’ll just follow you out when you finally get bored of wandering around aimlessly. You’ll have to leave eventually.”

“I suspect, Miss Belloq,” Gabriel said, “that I am far more patient than you.”

“Hmm. Well, maybe, but I bet I’m a lot more stubborn than you.”

The corners of Gabriel’s mouth lifted ever so slightly. “Perhaps,” he said. “I might surprise you, though.”

Gisele looked at Gabriel. “Yeah, you’re full of surprises, aren’t you,” she murmured. “Why do you want the compass, anyway?”

“For the same reason you do, I imagine. To use it to find more powerful artifacts.”

“For what, world domination?” she teased. Gabriel simply stared at her in response, and her smile faded. “Seriously?”

“Not ideally,” Gabriel said, “but I’d feel more comfortable if I had the option on hand. I have… shall we say, little faith in the men who run the world.”

Gisele nodded. “Fair enough.”

“Why do you want it?” Gabriel asked her.

“Oh, it’s the family business,” Gisele said easily. “Labyrinths, cursed tombs, decaying temples, I’ve been running around in ‘em since I was, oh, ten or so?” Gisele leaned against the stone wall of the maze. “Tagging along after my parents for most of it. This is my first solo mission. It’ll be pretty embarrassing if they find out some wet behind the ears nobody managed to get the better of me, you know.”

Gabriel nodded. “Family business. I know how that is.”

“Yeah? What’s yours in the business of?”

“Running the world, if you can believe it.”

“Really?” Gisele tilted her head, studying Gabriel for a moment, and then her eyes widened. “You’re one of _those_ Agrestes?”

“The very ones.” Gabriel glanced back the way they’d come. “Shall we continue? I think you’ll probably give up faster if you keep moving.”

Gisele continued to study Gabriel, not moving from her place against the wall. “You know, you are pretty resourceful for a guy who’s never done this before. You haven’t done this before, right?” Gabriel shook his head. “Yeah, well… you might be useful to have around.”

Gabriel frowned, confused. “Thank you?”

“How about this,” Gisele said. “What if we share the compass?” Gabriel raised an eyebrow skeptically. “Look, it’s a good idea to do this stuff with a partner anyway. I could use your resourcefulness, and you could use my experience. We join forces and split whatever we get our hands on. Sound fair?”

“Just because you were not able to handle a mission alone, Miss Belloq, does not mean that I am not capable of doing so,” Gabriel said defensively.

“Yeah? You don’t actually have the compass you came for, though, do you?”

Gabriel considered this, then sighed. “Oh, very well,” he agreed. “A partnership. On a trial basis. Until one of us annoys the other to death, anyway.”

Gisele grinned. “Deal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel Appreciation Week, Day 4: Young Gabriel


	5. II

“ _Ugh_ ,” Gisele groaned, looking out the window of their small room in Anuradhapura at the heavy amounts of rain coming down.

“We were warned repeatedly by the booking agent that this was a bad time to come here,” Gabriel said. “She begged us to reschedule.”

Gisele snorted. “If I had the power to rescheduling the Leonids, I would not be wasting my time chasing after an idol in Sri Lanka.” She thought she saw the hint of a smile on Gabriel’s face, but it was hard to tell with him. He studied the rainfall in silence for a little while.

“I did pack an umbrella,” Gabriel finally said.

“Really?” Gisele asked sarcastically. “Did you pack scuba gear as well? No? Then it looks like we’ve got the day off.” She sighed. “It’s fine, we have another week before the meteor shower ends. It’ll let up by then.” She turned from the window and looked at Gabriel. “I suppose this is your first exposure to travelling abroad during an off-season.”

“Something like that.”

“And your first exposure to a cheap motel?” she added, grinning.

“If you are trying to goad me into revealing personal details, Miss Belloq, you can cease your efforts. I think it’s best if we keep ours a purely professional relationship.”

Gisele pouted. “You’re no fun.”

“I’ve been informed.” Gabriel sat back down on his bed, leaning against the pillow, and pulled out a sketchpad and pencil from his bag.

“At least tell me what your family thinks of you running all over the world stealing magical artifacts for the sake of world domination.”

Gabriel began sketching, and didn’t look up. “They’d probably approve, if they knew,” he said, “but I thought it best to be vague on the details. As far as they know, this is simply a year of travelling abroad between graduating from university and starting a career in ‘public service’, as they call it.”

“Oh,” Gisele said. She went back to looking out the window. “That’s too bad. I tell my family everything.”

“All the more reason for me to refrain from sharing personal details,” Gabriel replied, and Gisele rolled her eyes. She pulled a book out of her bag and settled in to the small window nook, the spine of her novel rested against one propped-up knee, the other leg dangling carelessly over the edge. For a long while, the only sounds were the scratching of Gabriel’s pencil across paper, the occasional flipping of page to page, and the beating of raindrops against glass.

“Are you hungry?” Gisele asked, breaking many hours of silence. “It’s past noon.” Gabriel didn’t look up from his work. “I could see if there’s anything quick nearby and bring it back. Gabriel? Earth to Gabriel?” Still no response. Gisele rapped her knuckles loudly against the window and Gabriel finally looked up, startled. “Gabriel. Food?”

“Oh.” Gabriel blinked. “I suppose I should eat, yes.” He went back to his sketch.

“What are you drawing, anyway?”

“You.”

“What? Shut up. No, you’re not.”

“There is something of a shortage of live models in this room,” Gabriel replied. “I didn’t think you’d mind.”

Gisele leapt up from the windowsill and rushed to look at Gabriel’s pad for herself. “Well, shit,” she said, grabbing it out of his hands. “This is really good. You could totally sell this, you know. Like those guys that do sketches of tourists near all the monuments and museums and stuff.”

“I have slightly higher life ambitions than that, Miss Belloq,” Gabriel said. “It’s merely a way to pass time.”

Gisele flipped through the notepad to some earlier drawings. “Lot of dresses in here,” she remarked. “Really nice ones.”

“I like inventing new designs.”

“Yeah?” She looked at a few more pages, then gave the pad back. “You realize that’s what you should be doing, right?”

“Sketching?” Gabriel asked.

“No, designing. Instead of,” Gisele held up her fingers in air-quotes, “public service.”

Gabriel looked down at the first page. “That’s hardly on the table.”

“Why? You know you’d make a terrible politician, right?”

“I excelled at all my political science courses at university,” Gabriel said defensively.

“Good for you,” Gisele said, waving her hand dismissively. “But unfortunately for you, politics isn’t science. It’s getting people to like you.”

Gabriel pressed his lips together. “Perhaps,” he allowed.

“Anyway,” Gisele said, sitting down on the bed next to Gabriel, “I thought the whole point of you hunting down powerful relics across the globe was so you could take control of the world _without_ all that annoying legwork.”

“True.” Gabriel shrugged. “Perhaps you’re right.”

“You don’t know me very well yet,” Gisele said, grinning, “so I’ll let you in on a little secret. I’m _always_ right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel Appreciation Week, Day 5: A Day Off


	6. V

“Adrien! How are you, my love?” Gisele asked, beaming at her laptop screen, the computer resting on her knees as she leaned back into the hotel bed’s abundant pile of pillows.

“Mama!” Her eight year old son waved eagerly from his bedroom in Paris. “I miss you, Mama!”

“Oh, I miss you too, darling! Tell me everything you did today, don’t leave a single detail out.” Gisele listened with rapt attention as Adrien launched into an impressively thorough account of each and every animal he’d seen at Cinéaqua, and everything he’d learned about them from both Nathalie and their tour guides.

“Is Father there?” Adrien asked, after he’d finished describing the cephalopod exhibit.

Gisele smiled and rolled her eyes. “Yes, love, he’s just repacking everything for the fifth time this evening. Gabriel, put that down for a second and come say hello to your son.”

Across the other side of the room, Gabriel sighed and dropped their backpack on the hotel room’s couch. He walked over to the bed, sat down next to his wife, and looked at the screen. “Hello, Adrien,” he said. “Have you completed your homework assignments for the evening?” Gisele smacked his arm, and Adrien giggled. “What?”

“There’s a seven hour difference, Gabriel, our son has plenty of time left in the day to complete his homework. Besides, he’s clearly doing very well with his studies, he just spent half an hour telling me about everything he’s learned today.”

“I know that, I was listening. It was very impressive, Adrien.”

“Thank you, Father. I miss you.”

“We’ll be back before the end of the week, Adrien.” Gisele elbowed Gabriel, more subtly this time so Adrien wouldn’t notice, and Gabriel cleared his throat. “But of course I miss you as well.”

“We can’t wait to be back home, darling,” Gisele added emphatically.

“I wish I could have come with you,” Adrien said.

“I know, love, but you’d be terribly bored if you had, it’s all business meetings.” Gisele yawned. “See, I’m bored just telling you about it.” Adrien giggled again. “And it’s getting very late here,” Gisele continued, “so I’m afraid we’ll have to say goodnight.”

“Okay. Goodnight Mama, goodnight Father!”

“Goodnight, Adrien,” his parents chorused back. Gisele blew him a quick kiss before ending the call. Sighing, she closed her laptop.

“Is everything alright?” Gabriel asked her.

“Fine,” Gisele said. “It’s just hard to be away from him for so long, that’s all.”

Gabriel took his wife’s hand. “We’re doing this for him,” he reminded her.

“I know.” Gisele leaned against Gabriel, and they both sank back into the pillows. “We should get some sleep. We’ve a big hike tomorrow, and we’re not used to this altitude as it is.”

Gabriel nodded, but started to get up from the bed. “I’ll just check-”

“ _Gabriel_.” Gisele firmly held him down, then leaned over him and lightly kissed his cheek when he finally gave up. “It’s fine. We have everything. We’re prepared. We’re ready for anything we might encounter.”

“It’s the Temple of the Guardians, Gisele. We’ve been searching for it for a decade and a half. Can we really be too prepared?”

“If you lose sleep over it? Yes.”

Gabriel shook his head. “I don’t know if I’ll get a proper night’s sleep again until we get ahold of at least one Miraculous. I lose sleep thinking of how little control I have over our lives, of the countless things that might happen before we get a chance to obtain one. And the last time we went after one, we returned home empty-handed.”

Gisele kissed her husband again. “Through no fault of our own. And our source this time is far more reliable.” She wrapped an arm around his waist, and some of the tension in his body finally eased. “We’re going to go to sleep. And tomorrow, fully prepared, we will find the Lost Miraculouses and the Grimoire of the Guardians in the Fallen Temple. And after that, there will be nothing we can’t do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel Appreciation Week, Day 6: Tibet


	7. VII

Gabriel had been told almost twenty-four hours in advance that his son would be visiting, but it wasn’t nearly enough time to brace himself for the shock of seeing the young man. He watched through the thick glass as Adrien made his way towards him. It was strange, to see how everyone around Adrien looked at him, the guards and the other visitors. Even the other prisoners, on Gabriel’s side. There was respect in their eyes, and gratitude, and awe. None of it seemed to touch Adrien, though. He moved brusquely through the room to the chair on the opposite side of the glass, sat down, and picked up the phone. “Father.”

“Hello, Adrien,” Gabriel said calmly. “You’re looking-”

“My lawyers want me to get you to sign a few documents,” Adrien interrupted. “Control of your assets, accounts, that sort of thing. Not that I care about any of it, but it’ll make it easier for me to hire people to manage everything. I’d rather not be involved, or think about it any more than I have to.”

Gabriel nodded. “Of course. Although I’m not sure I’m legally permitted to-”

“Normally it would be an issue, but since I’m the _hero of Paris_ ,” Adrien stopped himself for a moment, getting the bitterness in his voice under control, “it’s unlikely anyone will give me trouble for it.”

“I see.” Gabriel hesitated. “I would have signed them without a personal request. You didn’t have to come here.”

Adrien sighed and leaned back in the chair. “Yeah, well. We didn’t really get a chance to talk the last time we saw each other, did we?”

The last time they’d seen each other. Gabriel had lost everything that night. They both had. “No. We didn’t.” He waited patiently for his son to continue.

“Do you,” Adrien took a deep breath, “do you have _any_ idea what happened to her?”

Of course. As though he’d come here for anything less.

“No,” Gabriel said. “I would have told the police if I did.”

“Are you sure?” Adrien narrowed his eyes at his father. “She was your arch-nemesis after all, wasn’t she? Surely you want her lost forever.”

“Adrien. It was never my intention-”

“It was your akuma!” Adrien shouted. The room fell silent as everyone around them looked in their direction. Indifferent to the attention, Adrien dropped his head into his hand and closed his eyes. “How can you not know anything?” he whispered.

“I had far less control over my victims than I would have liked, Adrien,” Gabriel said matter-of-factly. “If that hadn’t been the case, then perhaps this would have all been over years ago.”

Adrien let out a humorless laugh. “Maybe this would have all been over years ago if you’d just _talked_ to me for once, let me in, told me what you… we could have figured something out together, we could have done… God, _anything_ other than what you did!”

“You’re right,” Gabriel said softly. Adrien’s eyes widened; he’d never before heard his father utter those words, after all. “I told myself I was doing it all for you, but it was my own pain that drove me. And in the end, I inflicted that same pain on you. I’m so sorry.”

Adrien stared at him, unblinking, for what felt like an eternity. “Well, thanks for saying that,” he finally said. “I think I needed to actually hear it to know for certain how utterly meaningless your regret is to me.” He stood. “I will never forgive you. I will never come back here. After the trial is over, you will never see me again. I am done with you.” He started to hang up the phone.

“Wait.” A flash of anger crossed Adrien’s face, but he brought the phone back up to his ear. “I don’t know what happened to Marinette,” Gabriel repeated, “but there’s a device at the mansion that might help you find her. A compass. It… it’s how your mother and I met, actually. You’ll find it hidden in the top left drawer of my desk, behind a false panel at the back.”

Slowly, Adrien sat back down. “Why didn’t you use it to find Mom?”

“I tried,” Gabriel said. “Every day since she vanished, I’ve tried. But no matter how many times I used it, the needle simply spun wildly. Whatever happened to her… either a magic more powerful than the compass shields her location, or she is simply no longer in this world. But perhaps the same is not true of Marinette.”

Adrien nodded. “How do I use it?”

“Hold the compass, and focus on Marinette. Keep her fixed in your mind, in your heart. It’s important to be as single-minded as possible, to the exclusion of all else.”

“Single-minded to the exclusion of all else,” Adrien repeated. “Your specialty.” He sighed. “Is there anything else you have, any other magical devices back at the mansion that could help me find her?” Gabriel shook his head, and Adrien stood once more. “Alright then. This doesn’t change anything I just said.”

“Of course not. But…” Adrien waited. “Not for my sake, but if you could continue to check for your mother every now and then. Perhaps one day…”

Adrien’s expression softened, ever so slightly. “Of course.” Without another word, he hung up the phone. Gabriel stayed seated until Adrien was gone from view, until he’d watched his son walk out of his life for good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel Appreciation Week, Day 7: Regret


End file.
